Tag: Great

Ultra Q Ep. 24: The Statue of Goga

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate June 12, 1966.

The James Bond craze has hit Japan. Time for an Ultra episode to go full espionage. The accouterments of a ‘60s spy film are all over this half hour: A wealthy villain with a hidden underground base filled with stolen artwork. Secret agents with numbered codenames who wear shades indoors. Lethal henchmen in slick suits. A swanky female spy loaded with gizmos. Wrist communication devices. Exploding cars. And, of course, a giant snail with a drill attachment. Well, this is Ultra Q, after all. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 13: Human Collection

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Minoru Kawasaki and Hirochika Muraishi. Airdate Nov. 30, 1996.

Young Shinichi is walking home alone one night — not an activity I recommend for third graders — when he sees a strange “crow man” using a ray gun to shrink and capture a pedestrian on the street. Thankfully, Shinichi is Shinjoh’s cousin, so he can call GUTS headquarters directly to inform them of the new threat. Because of a recent spate of vanishings in the area, Shinjoh and Daigo go to check out the kid’s story. They encounter the mystery crow-headed man, who uses his shrinking ray to nab Shinichi and then escape.

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Ultraman Ep. 18: Brother From Another Planet

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Samaji Nonagase. Airdate Nov. 13, 1966.

Ultraman has three classic sentient alien villains. We’ve already met Alien Baltan. Twice. Later we’ll meet Alien Mefilas, maker of dark deals. Today we meet Alien Zarab, who wants humanity to believe he’s their pal, the brother from another mother planet who’s looking out for Earth’s best interests — just like the aliens from the classic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man.” And look how well that turned out. 

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Ultraman Ep. 17: Passport to Infinity

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Airdate Nov. 6, 1966.

The most surreal Ultraman episode yet. That still places it below the strangest episodes of Ultra Q or an average episode of Ultraman Taro. Those shows set a high bar for weirdness, but “Passport to Infinity” makes a game effort at trippy and abstract excitement. Best of all, we get one of the Ultra series’ most memorable kaiju, Fourth Dimensional Monster Bullton, which resembles a heart valve as designed by Joan Miró. 

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Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.

After two bland movies, the Gamera series at last discovers its niche and breaks out the good rubber-suited monster times. 

Fans generally consider Gamera vs. Gyaos the best movie of the series. I won’t argue with that. The pacing, the monster battles, the cast, the blend of the human story with the big beastie action … it all comes together for an entertaining monster vs. monster show, and one of the best kaiju films of the Showa Era outside of Toho Studios’ output.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 7: The Man Who Came Down to Earth

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yasushi Okada. Written by Hidenori Miyazawa. Airdate Oct. 19, 1996.

Rena has her first star-turn in a heavy father-daughter drama mixed with an alien invader story. Until now, most of what we’ve seen of Rena has been teases about her possible romance with Daigo. Now Daigo steps into the background — and to an extent, so does Ultraman Tiga — for Rena to work out her family issues parallel to combating a manipulative alien who also has family issues.

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Ultraman Ep. 15: Terrifying Cosmic Rays

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate Oct. 23, 1966.

Akio Jissoji returns with a fantastic episode that goes to a stranger place than his first, “The Pearl Defense Directive.” It’s another humorous outing, with similarities to “The Rascal From Outer Space.” Both feature enigmatic alien forces that cause comical monsters to materialize. But “Two-Dimensional Kaiju Gavadon” is a different type of comedy kaiju than the bratty Gango. Gavadon a lazy monster. Or maybe it’s just too peaceful. 

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Ultraseven Ep. 11: Fly to Devil Mountain

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Dec. 10, 1967.

Captain Kiriyama sends the Ultra Guard to investigate a series of unexplained deaths, mostly of young vacationers, around Mount Iwami. While Dan and Soga are scouting the area, the alien raygun used on the victims zaps Dan, apparently killing him. We know Dan isn’t really dead — he’s the lead of the show, after all — but this opening immediately moves the episode into new territory. The series protagonist is out of the action, and the Ultra Guard has to figure out what happened without him until the finale, when we know that Dan turns into Ultraseven and squares off against the alien menace.

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Ultra Q Ep. 16: Garamon Strikes Back

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate April 17, 1966.

At this point in the timeline of the Ultra universe, the people of Tokyo have got to be fairly terrified, right? In the past few months, their city has almost been destroyed by 1) a humongous alien floating blob that nearly drained all of Tokyo’s energy; 2) a giant penguin-walrus thingy that brought along its own Ice Age; and now 3) multiple alien constructs half the size of Tokyo Tower that look like frazzled Pokémon characters with skeletal hands and legs. 

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